Another Bali Wedding

This was my third trip to Bali.  Like all the previous trips, this was also to attend a wedding.  There was one slight difference this time, that Veronica would be joining the wedding as one of the bridesmaids.  It meant a little bit more to do for her, but for me, I was free to do as I wanted.

This was Veronica's first trip to Bali.  We took some time before the wedding to not just enjoy our surrounds, but also to explore the island a little bit.  The wedding was in Uluwatu, so we headed down to Uluwatu Temple for Veronica to experience some of Bali's culture (or what was presented as its culture in any event).  We arrived at the gates, put on the saris we were required to wear and walked down towards the temple.  In our rush to get down, we hadn't put on any sunscreen and the heat of the day was getting intense.   After we entered, we walked over to a shaded area to put on some sunscreen.  With my sari on, I couldn't access my pockets and had been holding my phone in my hand.  I placed this phone down on a ledge.... What a horrible mistake that was as a monkey came running across to grab the phone and to then run away. I chased after the monkey.  It didn't run far.  Instead it sat just out of arms reach, snarling at me and chewing on the phone.  I grabbed a stick and started to poke at it.  I needed that phone and I contemplated whether it would make sense to run at it and to try and snatch it back.  Veronica ran off and found one of the local guards in the area.  This was a common occurrence it seemed.  He asked for a "payment" and then brought out some food which he threw towards the monkey.  Once it had been given enough food for both hands, it dropped the stolen phone and ran off.  It may not have been the case that this was a coordinated effort between the monkeys and the local guards, but they were both certainly created a symbiotic relationship from all of this thieving! 

The temple area was busier than I remembered.  The views were as sweeping and as grand as before, but things did seem to be falling into a worsening state of disrepair.  Cracks in the temple and the walls were getting bigger and there seemed to be a general mess everywhere.  The monkeys were also on full rampage, with screams and cries being frequently heard as they tried to steal all manner of thing from the visitors.

We left after a few hours.  It was a good visit, but the story of the thieving monkey would probably be the highlight of it all.  Veronica needed to get ready for the wedding, so we went over to the hotel where the reception would be.  It would be many hours before the wedding, so I dropped Veronica off and went to do some exploring.  Close to where we were was Bingin Beach.  This partly secluded, partly isolated and yet strangely busy part of Bali seemed to have grown organically out of the cliff.  Access to the beach seemed to only be possible by walking down a long and narrow path down the side of the cliff.  Once at the beach level, you could see all of the small warungs and guest houses that had been built up over the years.  The beach itself was full of surfers and revellers sunning themselves.  It was all very Bali.

I swam around for a bit before laying in the sun.  I found a warung and had some lunch with a smoothie.  The AFL grand final was on, so I even pulled out my phone and started to watch the game for a bit.  I felt every bit the Australian in Bali....

After this period of relaxation, I made the slow hike back up to the path to the waiting car.  I was now a bit late and so I needed to race over to the wedding location.  I arrived as the bride and her bridesmaids were all nearly ready.  They all jumped onto little golf buggies and sped off to the wedding location as I borrowed the bathroom to shower and change.  As I walked out, I realised I didn't know how to get down to the wedding area.  At that moment, the sister of the bride and one of the flower girls reappeared, having forgotten to grab some small items.  I was able to hitch a ride on their golf buggy down to the wedding. 

It was a beautiful wedding.  The location was grand and immaculately prepared.  It was a bit of a strange Bali wedding.  With such a high end location, I hadn't been so sure what the "attire" would be.  There was clearly a similar confusion amongst the guests as the choice of clothing ranged from extremely overdressed (like myself) all the way through to the extremely underdressed.  This disparity in the approach to clothing only seemed to add to the Bali feel.

With the formalities of the wedding completed, the reception and the party began.  With all the kids in attendance, games and a large jumping castle had been prepared.  They soon began running up and down, climbing all over the jumping castle as all of us adults enjoyed drinks and canapes.

Dinner was then served.  Traditional Balinese food, all prepared with care and attention to detail.  During the reception, the bride and groom all performed a further traditional Korean ceremony for the benefit of the family of the bridge.

As the evening wore on, we all migrated towards the inside ballroom.  The DJ began to play and the drinks continued to flow.  The kids were now gone, safely in bed as the adults all continued to celebrate the newly married bride and groom.

Bali sunset

For such a popular destination, the Hong Kong flights to and from Bali are at an inconvenient time.  They take off neither early nor late and it means you largely lose both days to travel.  

With that in mind, I wanted to rescue part of the day on arrival.  Arriving at the airport, the immigration processing was quick and we were soon at the hotel.  I had arranged for us to be close in a hotel in Jimbaran.  The location was close to the airport, but I also wanted to enjoy an evening on the beach.

We quickly dropped off our bags, changed and I dragged Veronica quickly over to the beach restaurants.  We were just in time to see the last of the light as the day faded away.  Another hour earlier would have given us the nice sunset, but this was still amazing.

As the evening progressed, the small lights on each of the tables began to shine and the smoke of all the BBQs filled the air.

With all the incredible places to visit in Bali, a beach dinner in Jimbaran continues to be one of my favourite experiences.

Heavy rains

The typhoon had come and gone.  So Hong Kong was now back to normal.

Well that's what we all thought.

Instead we were all in for a big surprise.  As I prepared for bed one night, I could hear the rain outside.  It had been wet since the typhoon, so this wasn't anything out of the ordinary.  The rain was getting heavier.  I could hear the rain coming down hard.  It was still nothing out of the ordinary.  Heavy rain can be common in Hong Kong, so much so that there's a system of warnings in place at the Hong Kong Observatory to warning people when it gets too much.  I didn't think much of it as I lay in bed and closed my eyes.  I could still hear the heavy rain.  It was actually quite a soothing sound and I was soon asleep.

I woke up to the sound of rain.

I wasn't sure if I had slept.  The rain sounded as heavy as it had been when I had fallen asleep.  I wondered if it was still early or if I had only been asleep a short time.  I looked at my clock.  There was no mistake, I had slept the full night and it was the morning.  I thought that maybe it was just a coincidence that the rain had been at its heaviest when I slept and when I woke.  Strangely, in the back of my mind I did wonder whether the heavy rain had persisted through the night.

I stepped out of bed and looked out the window. 

It hadn't been a coincidence.  It had indeed rained heavily all night.  We were to find out later that this had been the heaviest rain that Hong Kong had ever experienced.  It was a once in 500 year event that had completely saturated the city and left flooding all over.  There was reports and videos of landslides, flooded buildings and general mayhem.

By mid morning, the waters had started to recede.  Veronica and I went downstairs to look for food and to investigate our surroundings more thoroughly.  Everywhere there was mess and filth.  The flooding had brought with it all the dust and dirt in the city, and caked it all over the roads and sidewalks.

At one drain, we found the remains of an early morning noodle delivery.  It must have been left in front of a restaurant by the delivery drivers only to be carried away by the flooding that came later.

As we turned the corner, we found the biggest sign yet of the true severity of this event.  The local McDonalds, the store that never closes no matter how bad the typhoon, had been shut down by the flood.  Being in the basement of the building, we could only imagine how bad the flooding downstairs had been.  Many of the shops and buildings in Hong Kong are raised a "step", which is normally more than enough to deal with the usual heavy monsoon rains.

This was a different case altogether, and the flooding had gone above that first step which meant a long and expensive clean up for many of the ground and basement stores throughout the city.

Amazingly, the resilience of this city was such that by the afternoon, I could already hear the rumbling of the trams rolling along the routes that had been flooded only hours earlier.

Super typhoon days

It had been years since we had felt in the "typhoon mood".   There had been a few big ones since Mangkhut, but none of them had seemed to impact the city in the same way.  The shut downs that normally come with the typhoons had been short.  The coming of Typhoon Saola seemed like a return to the old days.  The observatory had been warning about it for days in the lead up, with a direct hit on Hong Kong predicted.  Everyone seemed to be awaiting its arrival with a strange nervous anticipation.  It was hitting on Friday and there seemed to be a city wide assumption and agreement that there would be no work done that day.  When the T10 was raised Thursday evening, no one was surprised and everyone was already well prepared for the Friday of work from home.  Shops had been cleared out and everyone had stocked up on the essentials for a weekend in.

The storm started to hit and hit hard.  The city was still shutdown, but it seemed to not be too bad outside.  We went out at lunch for some food and we could see some trees had already born the brunt of the winds. 

We were hungry, so we went and partook in some McDonalds.  Even with everything else is closed, McDonalds seems to somehow stay open during the worst typhoons.  I remember also eating McDonalds the last time there was such a big shutdown.

By the afternoon of the next day, it was gone and the city began the assessment of the damage done.

The worst of it hadn't lasted that long, but there was damage everywhere.  It didn't seem too serious, but trees had been felled and there was garbage and debris scattered everywhere.

What was most amazing though was that everything seemed to be restarting already.  Only a few hours had past since the warning signals had been lowered and everyone was already getting on with their lives.  Chainsaws roared everywhere as the clean up crews were busily dealing with the trees.  We had a farewell dinner planned that night for Rachel.  We had been worried it would be cancelled and yet it all still went forward without a hitch.